I got them, told windows to download and install them. When it was finished, it wanted to reboot. So, I let it reboot.

Then after using my computer for a bit, I wanted to shut down so I could go to the store.
My system went to the blue shutdown screen and showed a message "Installing windows update (1 of 1). Please do not shut down or turn off power to your computer. Windows will shut it down automatically when finished."

It sat there for 2 hours while I was gone on that screen. I had to power it off myself.
When windows loaded back up, the icon for updates flashed again saying updates were ready to install, but then disappeared.

Running windows update manually shows no updates pending.
So, not sure what to make of it.

Saying its installing an update. I let it sit for an hour and nothing.

I hope I can uninstall those two updates. Except I don't remember the names. I hope the add/remove thing sorts by date installed.

Well, I found the 2 updates. Luckily windows add/remove programs showed the date on those 2 updates. I removed them both and rebooted.

Still getting the same problem

Then, I thought to do a system restore. I can't even do that, because as soon as system restore goes to reboot, it hangs at the same point. Powering off my computer manually and rebooting causes system restore to fail because of an improper shutdown.

Way to go microsoft...

One thing I did note in my system restore window. There are restore points created for each time I restarted my computer today. And the lable on the restore points reads "Software Distribution Service 2.0"

Well.. I was able to get into safe mode and go to a restore point from yesterday. It did the restore and rebooted. When it was finished booting up, I noticed in my process table a weird process 84377_enu.exe or something like that. It looked like a microsoft numbered update trying to install. I killed it and shut down my computer.
The shutdown went with no issues.
I'll see if that weird process tries to start up again when I restart it today.

I don't know why the updates didn't work. I had SP2 download and install with no issues.

These 2 updates downloaded and installed and asked for a reboot. It seemed to have no problems, but then at shutdown it gave that "Installing updates" message right after the Saving settings. Shutting down, on the blue shutdown screen.

Strange. I don't know if I want to chance downloading and installing them again.

I had the exact same problem last night as the original poster. as I was getting ready to shut down, it said that it'd install the updates and turn off my computer automatically. I thought, "ok, I'll let it do its thing and go to sleep." I wake up 6 hours later and the screen still says "installing updates....1 of 2"

I turned my computer off this morning. Didn't have time to look at it further before having to leave for work.

The 2 updates that came up yesterday were:
1) A security update for IE under Windows XP SP2.
2) A update to Office XP under Windows XP SP2, I think it said it fixed a problem with an earlier update.

Today at lunch, I booted up normally and didn't see any weird processes. I downloaded and installed the IE Update and it rebooted. So far so good. No weird processes or anything. I shut it down and it powered itself off.

So, it appears that the Update for Office XP caused my problem. I don't think I installed the update it said this one fixes.

Joshic, to fix the problem, do what I did.

Reboot and press the F8 key until the boot menu comes up. Choose Safe Mode.
When it boots up, go into Help and Support and search for System Restore.
Pick a restore point from before you installed the updates and let it do its things.
When it reboots, it should shut down normally and act like it has before.

Wow! 5 minutes. I wish I had a system that worked that fast. Hell, mine takes a minute just to boot up.

When I left my computer, it was installing for almost an hour and, according to the progress bar, was only about ¾ of the way done.

__________________ He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion. -- Unknown

I just came to post about a problem I'm having with the WU patch. Ever since installing SP2 awhile back automatic updates will not work for me. I receive the notification about the update and tell it to download it but it never does.

So much for SP2 helping inexperienced users with critical updates as now I can't even get them short of manually checking the site.

Anyone happen any ideas how I can get automatic updates to wrok again?